Coraline (Erika Alexander) and Thelonious "Monk" Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) in American Fiction. Photo / Supplied
Coraline (Erika Alexander) and Thelonious "Monk" Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) in American Fiction. Photo / Supplied
Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is a black creative writing professor and author whose teaching and literary careers have plateaued. “They want a black book,” his agent (John Ortiz) implores, as publishers pass on Monk’s latest highbrow, culturally unspecific, manuscript. “They have a black book – I’m black, it’s mybook,” is the growling retort.
Monk is outraged when a fellow black writer wins acclaim for writing about “the African American experience” in a fake vernacular of clichéd stereotypes. The book’s title: We’s Lives in Da Ghetto.
Lodging his tongue firmly-in-cheek, Monk writes his own African American novel of gritty gangster life under the pseudonym of a supposed ex-convict “Stagg R Leigh”. But when his protest at a publishing industry catering to a largely white, virtue-signalling market becomes a huge hit, he finds himself compromised.
Wright (Basquiat, TheFrench Dispatch) has never been better. Long a gem of an actor, here he’s playing the sardonic straight guy armed with a script that is quick on its feet and hilarious.
Every scene he’s in is a delight, whether it’s seeing Monk’s rapport with his sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish), his uneasy relationship with his newly out brother (Sterling K Brown) or his blooming romance with lawyer and neighbour Coraline (Erika Alexander).
The film shifts tone effortlessly as it skips smoothly from heartache to laughter and back to grief all in one scene – particularly impressive during a devastating beachside funeral.
It’s the feature directing and writing debut of television writer Cord Jefferson, who is up for a Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar having already won a Bafta for his scripting of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel, Erasure.
The source material might have a few years on it, but the film resonates in an era where creatives think seriously about whose voices are heard and who’s telling their stories.
It’s not only a film of our times but one of smartest, funniest, and unexpectedly poignant comedy-dramas you’re likely to see this year.
Rating out of 5: ★★★★★
American Fiction, directed by Cord Jefferson, is screening on Prime Video.
